


the hustle

by Gone_by_dawn



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Moreid, Will is here but as JJ's roommate bc I love him but she's gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 01:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18378608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gone_by_dawn/pseuds/Gone_by_dawn
Summary: JJ turned towards him, lips quirking up into a smile as she came to a realization. "Is that why Morgan kicked you out of the pool last week?"Spencer grinned. His eyes twinkled with mischief and fondness, and JJ remembered all at once how much of a little shit the man could be. "Yeah," he said, not even bothering to hide his amusement. "It took him three rounds to realize I was hustling him."





	the hustle

**Author's Note:**

> Remember this scene from 7.04? Well here's the story behind it, as decided by yours truly ;)
> 
> also this is hasn't been revised so just please try to read through grammar errors, my brain is fried and I'll go back and fix it when I get a chance

They were supposed to be examining the boy's rooms for any suspicious signs when the topic was brought up. He'd mentioned something offhand about him and basketball when he'd been in high school, which  _of course_ JJ needed to know more about, immediately.

"Oh yeah, you played basketball?" She asked, sounding obnoxiously skeptical, as if it were really that hard to believe. Spencer might've been offended, had he not been surprised that she'd even asked.

"No," he said, incredulous, which maybe wasn't helping his case, "I coached basketball. I broke down the opposing team's shooting strategy."

At the time, he hadn't even thought twice about it, the science coming naturally to him. Looking back on it though, he could admit that it may have been an unorthodox way to make friends as an almost-teenager. His partner seemed to agree, but rather than comment on it, JJ turned towards him, lips quirking up into a smile as she came to a realization. "Is that why Morgan kicked you out of the pool last week?"

  
Spencer grinned. His eyes twinkled with mischief and fondness, and JJ remembered all at once how much of a little shit the man could be. "Yeah," he said, not even bothering to hide his amusement. "It took him three rounds to realize I was hustling him." 

There was something in the way he phrased the sentence, emphasizing  _"three rounds"_ and sounding entirely too pleased with himself as his lips wrapped around the word  _"hustling"_ , that made JJ burst out into laughter. It was loud and unexpected and she looked shocked even as she did it, which was how Spencer found himself joining her. They allowed themselves a moment of this, carefree enjoyment that didn't come often enough for the team, before they returned back to work, still smiling. Spencer indulgently recalled the instance in question, even as they continued to search the room.

~ ~ ~

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Morgan's eyes were bright and teasing above Spencer's, and he felt his heart pound loudly before his brain caught up and was able to formulate a reply.

"You're going  _down_ , Derek," he said, firmly, eliciting a laugh from the other man. A dark hand clapped him on the shoulder for a brief second before expertly reaching around him, grabbing a beer from the table, and cracking it open. Spencer was nursing one of his own, though at a much slower rate than his friends, it seemed. Derek was currently on his third, JJ and Hotch close behind. Spencer was still on his first, and not even halfway through that. Rossi, for his part, was drinking a red wine with Garcia, who had just classily declined a second refill. Emily sipped a scotch.

From his left, JJ lifted an eyebrow at him. She was teasing him too, though in a different way than Derek had. Her expression said something more along the lines of  _Well don't you look awfully cozy_. And it was true. Sitting in Rossi's living room, the entire team had gathered to watch a game of basketball on tv. They'd made pizza earlier, which had come out amazing, no doubt due to the magic of Dave's Italian touch, and now piled on the couch, which somehow had both plenty and not enough space to fit the seven of them. The end result had been Rossi and Hotch sitting comfortably along the leftmost end, while JJ, Garcia, and Emily spread across the middle. Derek and Spencer had gotten tucked into the right corner of the couch, Spencer practically pressed against the other's side in an effort not to be kicked by JJ's outstretched leg. There was a joke in here, somewhere, about a bunch of gays not knowing how to sit sensibly on a couch, but Reid couldn't bring himself to make it. 

"I don't know, Morgan," Emily drawled, fixing him with a look that Spencer couldn't read, but Derek seemed to be able to. "I'd keep an eye on that one. He cheats."

Spencer huffed. "I do  _not_ cheat, you guys just aren't playing effectively."

"Oh, we're not playing effectively, are we?" JJ was laughing. "Tell that to Hotch every time you look at his cards when he gets up."

Hotch, who was sitting on the other end of the couch, shot him a glare. "Damn it, Reid," he grumbled. "No wonder you win every game."

"Yeah,  _that's_ why," Dave joked, nudging him in the side, which he also glared at. No one took it seriously; he was always glaring, it's what he did. He looked and sounded serious all the time, but the team knew better. Aaron Hotchner was a softie.

"Well I'd like to see how you cheat your way out of this one," Derek said, adding $5 to the mess of bills accumulating on the table. They were placing bets on the game, based on who would make what shots and when. So far they'd just started and no one had won yet. Spencer was quick to fix that.

Garcia was appointed scorekeeper. Everyone else had decided to participate in the pool, save for Rossi who had smirked and said, cryptically, “I think I’ll just watch.” He shot Spencer a knowing stare and the genius smirked into his beer. Dave, despite having known Spencer for the shortest amount of time, had a particular gift for being able to call him out of his bullshit. Most of the time, anyway. He was very proud to admit that he'd gotten the better of the older man more than a handful of times, but still far less than he was used to with his other teammates. It takes one to know one, and whatever Spencer was, Rossi was one too. Maybe not as much as he'd been back in his day, but enough.

"Alright," Derek was saying, pulling Reid out of his thoughts. "Here's the money shot. Watch my man, he's totally going to-"

"Defense if going to block," Spencer said immediately. Derek scowled.

"You shut your mouth."

Beside them, JJ shouted, arms raised. She really wasn't even a huge basketball fan, being much more into football with soccer being a close second, but she didn't discriminate between sports. She loved watching the game, and without fail always managed to completely immerse herself in it. Spencer had caught her one day shouting at the tv while watching a round of  _golf_. When he asked her about it, making his presence in the moment known, she'd turned and spat " _Well maybe I wouldn't be yelling it Tiger Woods wasn't such a little_ bitch _"._ He didn't bring it up again.

Emily had been a bit harder for him to profile. In order to sweep the floor with is friends, he'd need to know how they would bet, but as always, she was impossible to read. Spencer knew she was sporty, but he also knew that she didn't care much for basketball. He thought he might remember something about her favorite sport being football as well, but he wasn't sure if that was because she enjoyed it or because JJ did. Either way, she'd never seemed very interested in basketball before, but he was hesitant to underestimate her. It turned out that he didn't need to, as she kept calling terrible shots and missing wildly anyway.

Hotch, who Spencer hadn't even expected to participate in the betting, watched the same way Emily did. His expression remained mostly impassive, poker face slipping only a number of times when he shouted, mostly in frustration. Still, it was nice to see his normally stoic boss break character and show some real emotions every once in a while, even if it was only to curse at a screen. He was fairing better than Prentiss, definitely, but JJ was kind of kicking his ass. Not that it mattered, because Morgan and Reid were kicking  _her_  ass.

Which brought Spencer to his next mark, one Derek Morgan. All of the team members, with the exception of Spencer and Penelope, of course, were more-than-fairly athletic. That being said, only two of them were actually jocks, and those two were JJ and Derek. As talented as JJ was, and she was, Morgan had her beat when it came to basketball. He was probably the only one of the seven who actually played outside of meeting a fitness requirement, which gave him a bit of an unfair advantage, though no one brought it up. If Spencer expected any of the agents to pose a threat to his winning, and he didn’t, it would be Derek.

On cue, defense blocked the shot. Derek groan exaggeratedly, to the amusement of everyone else. If Spencer were a little bit more concerned with not being caught he might’ve hid his smile but, in the moment, it felt good direct it pointedly at the by his side. Emily booed while JJ half-smirked, delighted by Spencer but pissed to have lost. Hotch looked more or less neutral, but Spencer didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes that said he was secretly proud. This was as close as the director got to showing he cared outside of literal life and death situations.

”Garcia,” Spencer called, still holding Morgan’s eye. He glared daggers at the younger agent, but the upwards twitch of his lips undermined it. “Please read the score.”

Penelope giggled. “Sorry folks, looks like G-Man wins this round. That leaves us Reid-1, Morgan and the rest of the BAU-0.”

"Fine. But the second round's all me, Pretty Boy," Derek said, throwing an elbow at Spencer's ribs. He laughed, both because it was cute Derek still thought he could win and because he was ticklish, which the other man knew. 

"If you say so."

The five players put in the bets for the next quarter while Spencer counted the money he had won from the previous. Morgan ran a hand roughly through his hair, messing it up and causing Spencer to stop what he was going and swat him away. They were both smiling. "Evil genius," Derek teased, lips against his ear. He did his absolute best not to shudder, but his beaming grin couldn't be hid.

" _Your_ evil genius," he whispered back, nudging their shoulders together. 

The rest of the team politely pretended that they were unaware of the flirting, save for a few long-suffering looks exchanged behind the couple's backs. Once the two had returned their attention to the game, another round began. Spencer won this one too, and the next, much to the utter disbelief of Morgan. After the third round he snapped.

 "You don't even  _watch_ basketball!" He shouted, laughing. He was standing up, arms wide and outstretched like Cristo Redentor. Spencer blinked up at him through long eyelashes, the picture of innocence though his smirk clearly read guilty in big, flashing letters. 

"I'm watching it right now," he said, infuriatingly.

Hotch and JJ yelled their words of agreement with Morgan, egged on by the alcohol in their bloodstreams and the recklessness in the atmosphere. Penelope and Rossi were near-cackling to themselves. The lot of them were teetering dangerously on drunk.

"Leave my baby alone!" Garcia shouted back, in between hysterics, at the same time Emily said "I told you he cheats!"

Spencer couldn't help it. He burst into giggles, smile so wide it was starting to hurt his jaw. He threw his head back and laughed, body curling in on himself, the rest of the team following suit. Derek narrowed his eyes.

"Pretty Boy," he drawled slowly, voice low as he climbed on top of Reid, which only raised more yelling and laughter from their friends. Someone threw popcorn at them. Distantly, they could hear Dave yelling _'Not on my couch!'_ , but no one paid him any mind. "You're not cheating are you?"

"Never," he gasped, swallowing another giggle. His whole body was shaking from the repressed sounds. He had to bite his lip to keep himself under control, which Derek flickered his eyes to.

"Good," he said, sitting up. To the others he announced "Reid's done playing for the night. Who's ready for another round?"

He was met with a couple of cheers. JJ notably ' _whoop'_ ed, which sent them all into another fit of laughter. They played one more round together, without Spencer despite his sounds of protest. He tried to argue, but Derek shot him a raised eyebrow and said "Do something 'bout it, Doc." It was a dare, and Spencer had already pushed him around enough tonight, so he'd given up with an emphasized pout and put his head on Derek's shoulder. The other man allowed him that, massaging loving fingers through his curls.

By the time the game ended on the tv, no one was fit to drive home. JJ called her roomate Will to come pick her and Emily up, which he was too polite to bitch about, though Spencer felt that he probably would've. Then again Spencer didn't drive, so what did he know.

"Spence, are you sure you don't need a ride?" JJ asked for the third time, hand resting on his shoulder awkwardly. She got touchy when she was drunk, which was admittedly adorable.

"I'm good, JJ, thank you," He reassured. They were standing by Rossi's front door, Spencer only there to say goodbye though she kept offering to have Will stop by his apartment on the way. If anything he should've been asking Hotch, seeing as he lived closer to his house than JJ's. He didn't bring that up though, because then JJ would try and get Hotch to give him a ride and he didn't know how to break it to her that he was going home with Derek. "I'll see you Monday, okay? Tell Will I say hi. And say hi to Henry for me, will you? Bye Emily." He waved his friends off, nudging them outside. They stumbled down the steps together, giggling and holding onto each other. Will waved at him from the driver's seat of his BMW.

 Spencer eased the front door closed, turning to head back to the living room. He was met with the sight of Penelope wrapping her arms around Hotch's neck in a tight goodbye hug, which he wasn't sure how she'd managed to talk her way into. Derek was talking to Rossi, thanking him for having them all over. As Spencer got closer he could start to make out their conversations. 

"No problem, anytime," Dave was saying, clapping Morgan on the arm. "Hey, and if you can't drive, you're welcome to stay. Penelope is staying the night, and Kevin's coming to pick her up in the morning. I could bust out a spare bedroom for you and..." He trailed off, eyes finding Reid. He wasn't drunk, not even close, but he did lean against the doorframe that connected the living room to the dining room, head titled back. Spencer watched as Derek's eyes roamed down to his throat and then back up, embarrassed. He grinned lazily back at them.

"I think we're going to head back to my place, but thank you," Derek said, drawing Rossi back into the conversation. "Good luck with the cleanup though, man."

The mess left in their wake wasn't honestly that bad. A couple of mostly-empty beer bottles, some stray chips and pretzels scattered across the floor, and maybe some popcorn tucked in between the cushions of the couch. Without missing a beat, though, Rossi said "Fuck you", on principle alone. Morgan laughed, and Dave shoved him lightheartedly in the direction of the door. "Go, take care of the Missus."

Spencer, who was within earshot of them by this point, was tempted to go on a rant about the different gender norms and expectations and how they correlated with sexuality, but at the moment his tongue felt heavy and he wanted to go home and put it to a different use so he let the comment slide and instead grabbed Morgan's arm. The pair walked, leaning against one another, out to the driveway where they had a cab waiting. They shuffled in, Spencer not even thinking about the number of germs found in most public transportation as he laid his head against Derek's chest and allowed his eyes to flutter shut. It only took them around eleven minutes to arrive at Derek's house, which they both were grateful for. Morgan paid the driver while Spencer fiddled with the key, and then they were stepping into the familiarity of Derek's living room.

Spencer had just barely had time to put his phone and keys on the counter before Derek enveloped him in an embrace from behind, wrapping his arms around his stomach and planting a kiss on his neck. Spencer laughed, tilting his head to allow him more access.

"So," Derek mumbled, lips pressed against Spencer's skin. "We're cheating at basketball now, are we?"

"Technically I didn't cheat."

"No?"

Spencer shook his head as best he could against Morgan, who's cheek was was resting near his jaw. "You never-ah-never said anything about not being able to use strategies, Derek," he said, voice becoming strained as the other man bit at a spot on his shoulder. He hummed his approval.

Derek let him go, only to grab Spencer and turn him around to face him, his back now being pushed against the door. The genius swallowed, probably for show, and Derek traced the movement of of his adam's apple with his eyes. "Well, I guess I'll have to be more careful with you next time, then, huh Reid?" Derek purred.

" _Spencer_ ," he said, forcefully, hips bucking against Derek's aggravatingly still ones. He smiled. Spencer was adamant about not being called Reid in the bedroom, and if he'd had any doubt in his mind where this was heading, he didn't now.

"Spencer," Derek corrected, softly. He pressed his lips firmly against the other's, initiating a teasingly slow kiss. Spencer moaned quietly into it, and Derek's self control faltered. All of a sudden the kiss deepened, lips moving faster, more urgently.  Morgan's arms ended on either side of Spencer's head, and Spencer had one hand sneaking under Derek's shirt, fingers met with blissfully hot skin. Spencer gave a tug at his waistband, and Derek took the hint. "Bed," he panted, mind already calculating how many walls he might be able to slam Spencer against on the way. Did the door already count as one? He didn't care, he needed to  _go_ , get them undressed, get  _Spencer_... he was cut off by teeth biting at his earlobe, and he let out a small groan of pleasure. God, how had he lasted all those years without having this? His breathing was coming out uneven, mind foggy as he focused on how the man flushed against him felt, warm and sharp and perfect.

Spencer tilted Derek's head back to steal another kiss, this time infuriatingly short. "Well?" the genius breathed against his mouth. "Are you going to fuck me against the door or are you going to carry me to bed, Derek?" And  _fuck_ if he didn't go a bit weak at that.

"'love you," he mumbled, leaving one more hickey along Reid's neck that the younger man would probably have to wear that damn purple scarf to cover on Monday, before lifting him up by his long legs and carrying him off to his room. "Even if you hustle your boyfriend," he added, earning a laugh from the doctor, abruptly sucked out of him as he was dropped onto Morgan's mattress. 

"Well two hundred dollars says I love you back, you prick," he said, flashing a blinding, if lustful, smile at Derek, who leaned over to admire the sight of Spencer spread out on his sheets. His heart thumped, and he decided that he'd never get tired of hearing those words, no matter what. He joined Spencer on the bed, back muscles taunt as he crouched over him and planted kisses on whatever exposed skin was available at the moment.

"I like those odds." 

**Author's Note:**

> I did promise an update this weekend, did I not? Alright so technically it's not the weekend anymore, and technically this isn't what I implied I would be posting, but you get what you get, okay? Anyways enjoy, and remember to leave a comment if you liked it!!


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